Big Brother 13′s resident metalhead and reality show addict Adam Poch is recapping The Amazing Race for Metal Insider – specifically Team Headbangers, consisting of former White Lion/Megadeth/Black Label Society bassist James LoMenzo and entertainment lawyer Mark “Abba” Abbattista. You can follow Adam on Twitter at @heavymetalteddy.
Welcome to the latest edition of the Amazing Race 21 recap – focusing on TEAM HEADBANGERS – James LoMenzo & Mark ‘Abba’ Abbattista. After winning 2 straight legs, last week they ran into a little bit of trouble when they “lost” their money at the travel agency (and 2 other teams found it but did not give it back). They finished the last leg in 3rd place, so lets see what they did this week.
All of the teams were instructed to go to the airport and make their way to Moscow. They were all given $420 for this leg (a little hint perhaps?) It was frantic at the airport and all of the teams were looking for the quickest flight – with the minimum amount of layover times. James & Abba, along with the Chippendales team were the only ones to take the flight that connected in Amsterdam ($420!!!) that got them in at 2:00 am in Moscow. That was the earliest anyone got in – but when they arrived at Zurab Tsereteli Sculpture park – they were informed it did not open until 9:30 in the morning, so they had to wait. When both teams arrived back at the park, they saw only 2 of the other 4 teams there – the Sri Lanka twins (Nadiya & Natalie) & Team Longhorns (Trey & Lexi) – leaving them all to wonder what happened to The Beekman Boys & Ryan and Abbie. They figured those two teams missed their flights and this would give them all a huge lead.
Once the teams found the clue, they had to make their way to Moskvoretsky Most and find Ivan the Terrible’s guards where they would get their next clue. James & Abba found the guards first, because they took a taxi and got their Detour challenge. This one was called Alphabetize or Synchronize. In Alphabetize – they had to make their way to a library and search for four books on a list going through the extensive card catalog system (which of course was all in Russian). In Synchronize – they had to make their way to a sports complex & learn then perform a synchronized swimming routine with members of the Gold Medal winning Russian Olympic team. James & Abba decided to go to the library because Abba’s knees were still hurting. After a while of trying to figure out the symbols of the Russian alphabet – they decided to throw in the towel & head to the pool. They lost valuable time as the other team to go to the library (Trey & Lexi) cracked the code and were able to find the books. Meanwhile at the pool, Chippendales & Twinnies both already started to learn their routines. By the time James & Abba got to the pool, the other 2 teams had finished and were moving on.
OK – I know that rockers have worn some unusual outfits through the years, but seeing James & Abba in Speedos was something that most people did not want to see – and I am sure they did not want to wear em, but this is a race for a million dollars – so you do what you gotta do. After seeing them, even the judge was a little afraid. It took the rockers a little while – but they finally finished the routine and got the thumbs up from the judge so they could move on. Once out of the pool, they made their way to Luzhkov Most (Trees of Love) where they had to do their roadblock challenge of this leg. When they got out of the taxi, they asked the cabbie to wait there while they did this challenge. Abba decided to be the one who had to sort through a huge ring of keys to try and unlock 10 locks holding a ribbon which holds their next clue.
Once they realized it was going to take a while, they went back to the cabbie to get their bags & tell him not to wait. BUT they could not find the cab. They started walking around looking for him, but he was nowhere to be found. Ok, they lost all their stuff, but as long as they had their passports, they would be fine. James asked Abba if he had it and sadly, he didn’t. This seemed to deflate their moral but they decide to continue anyway – and Abba makes his way through the locks, eventually getting the clue. On the back of a 100 ruble bank note there was a picture of the Bolshoi Theatre – which is the next pit stop and the end of the 7th leg. They showed up there to check in, where they were informed by host Phil Keoghan that even though they were the 4th team to arrive, unless they had their passports they cannot check in. The two delayed teams were already in Moscow and starting to perform their tasks. So what is going to happen to our Metalhead buddies???
Tune in next week – as the brilliant people at CBS leave this as a cliffhanger. I have faith that James & Abba will figure out a way to stay in the race – if they have to track down the taxi, go to the US Embassy and get a replacement passport, or something else – we will find out.
